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Velvet Tome of Hospanykka
The Velvet Tome of Hospanykka is an ancient book bound in deep purple velvet. The cover never seems to accumulate dust. The book is an informal accumulation of notes and scribblings on various arcane subjects. There is debate among scholars as to whether the writings represent the thoughts of a single individual or multiple authors. There is a copy of the book in the library at the Shattered Temple in Sigil. Excerpt 1 It is known that the language of the ancient Zenythri has esoteric and inscrutable properties. The spoken language has been lost in the mists of history, only written characters remain. These are bizarre and unsettling glyphs with strange geometric properties and fascinating mathematical implications. Words written in the language resist magical deciphering and all the usual spells may be applied to them without revealing their meaning. The only known Zenythri word which has an accepted pronunciation (although there is no consensus as to a translation) is "Adoransh" or sometimes the related "Adyraant," which has strange numerological properties. In fact upon entering the astrolo-phonetical equivalents into my own formulae the result was, dare I say, incendiary, and my eyebrows have not yet grown back. Perhaps an area for future research. Excerpt 2 There came to me at around this time a modron, perhaps a decaton, who had come to disagree with the philosophies of his people and wished to live his own life. As this is strictly forbidden in modron society, he was being hunted. He agreed to translate this mysterious Zenythri passage for me in exchange for my aid in helping him escape, which I gladly provided. His precise and exact translation is as follows: For the seeker after truth, the words and phrases of the first tongue are inevitable. As a cog rolls unavoidably in precision with its neighbors, so too will understanding roll into the mind of the seeker as each of the Stones they find. And the seeker shall know the path. Upon the second layer of the Beastlands lies Brux and the Library of All Knowledge, and on the third day after each new moon in Arborea, the Seelie Court arrives in the realm of Nephthys and they lay garlands at her altar. In Ysgard run the four deepest roots of Yggdrasil and in the Monastery of the Five Disciples of Pahazep in Limbo is truth maintained. Beware the six lords of chaos who inhabit the city of Ro'ashishu in the House of All Demons and despair in awe at the High Temple of Lord Sess'Innek in the Phantom Plane, seventh in the infinity of the Abyss. Once there were eight dragons who vied for the swamps of Cathrys, but when the nine Lords fought for the Gray Wastes the Yugoloths were cast into Gehanna and formed ten districts in the city of Shamon-Nessakhn. It is said that in Baator once were eleven hells. But the Elder Gods were hungry and their ravenous horrors were unleashed in troops of twelve upon the eternal battlefields of Acheron. And thus were the thirteen Cogs of Izushin constructed in Mechanus to bar the way. So it is that Mount Clangeddin in the Peaceable Kingdoms, fully the height of fourteen yishoria trees, is protected and also Mount Celestia and her fifteen Hollyphant Queens. And peace be upon the realm of Sixteen Rivers in the House of the Triad and upon Prince Talisid in his Elysian city, seventeen leagues from the borders of Lord Rhanok. Excerpt 3 It is unknown how many stones exist in total, but if five of the stones are placed in the shape of a quincunx, and the incantation below is performed, the abstract concepts required to understand the language will flood into the mind of whoever stands in the center. The stones themselves are ancient and are said to resemble small brass spheres with complex asymmetrical patterns engraved in them. It is said that some have gone mad just being in the presence of these stones. They are believed to be scattered across the planes. The passage translated for me by the Lone Modron seems to hint at the locations of at least seven stones. I have not yet been able to discern the pattern which will unlock the meaning of the passage. Something the Lone Modron said upon leaving (which seemed meaningless at the time) occurs to me. He said: "Once a human traveller came upon my group with a box of apples, but he could not devise a fair way to give more than one to each modron. He could give all apples to one, or one apple to each." I am bedevilled by the notion that this mysterious anecdote is somehow the key to unlocking the locations of the Zenythri Preceptors. Category:Items